Yup. I eyed that one for a while in the past (the Rane). It is pricier and takes up some space (unless one has a rack), but specs look pretty solid.

Joker- probably best reviewer in the business IMO. I like how he adapts his reviews towards certain sound signatures and hardly ever lets personal preferences taint his reviews. Short comparisons with other similar headphones that are slightly cheaper and slightly more expensive are uber helpful too. And he describes the sound in laymans terms that really drive home exactly what they sound like, instead of using nebulous terms like "euphoric".

MKBHD- this is easily the most dangerous, because he has a cult like following and is the most famous amongst all the YT reviewers. I remember watching an M50x review by soundguys I think and their vid got flooded by Mkbhd fantards proclaiming that they should take down the video because Mkbhd has made his review on it and nothing else would compare lol wtf. So out of curiosity I checked out his m50x video and I shit you not it consisted of saying the m50x has "rich lows, greats mids and crisp highs" or something to that effect. His open back headphones and DAC videos were just as bad, but millions of people approve and take what he says as the last word thus the absolute most dangerous.

Tyll Hertsens- his reviews are measurement based in most cases and they're pretty entertaining to read. Especially his high end stuff because it includes specific examples from music passages as to where they go right or go very very wrong. His Pono review was absolutely stellar, filled with comparison tests and personal insight as to what exactly he was hearing joker style.

Lachlanalwayslikesathing- the dude values comfort, isolation (if closed) and build quality more than sound. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and I get the feeling he does let personal preferences regarding sound signature come into play. Which wouldn't be a bad thing except that it seems to change all the damn time, one minute he prefers a warm mellow sound the next he wants a bass and treble "shimmery" cannon. A bit inconsistent but all in all his reviews are very informative and one comes away knowing if something is good value or not, which is the end goal of all reviewers or at least should be and I think he portrays this the best.

Jude- wtf his headfi reviews are pathetic (he literally proclaims anything new as the best thing evhar) and when people call him out on wtf he's saying then a swarm of white knights rush in to defend him. Plus I never get the sense that his ears are any good, he went on and on about the ie80 being a much better version of the ie8 and for months when more experienced people were like "they sound the exact same to me" others were quick to point out "but Jude said...." Stfu. When measurements came out and they were identical lots of people ate crow, that was my first higher priced iem so I remember this quite vividly. And that binaural recording video gave me nightmares evil little man giggling about how groundbreaking this was.

Dale Thorn- it's actually tough to hate on someone who clearly has a lot of experience with high end and lower end stuff, but he uses some weird eq and I don't think it's all that accurate. But he's even creepier than Jude and gets banned from every forum he visits. Claims of Shure 940 being just as good as HD800 are silly and he should feel bad, his reviews are rambly but I'm a sucker for someone who does comparisons but I still wouldn't recommend this dude.

Hifi heaven lance gross- this dude wears the same shirt in every video and is just way too happy. Still not as creepy as Jude or Dale but as a mainstream customer focused reviewer I think he does a decent job. Not as controversial as the Dave Mahler who dun it from earlier but this dude legit steals Tylls written reviews and lifts stuff verbatim from them which is what I don't like, and also that he loves everything he reviews but at least gives a brief mention as to why the gear may not be for you unf ortunately it's more preferences based rather than naming actual faults of the product. Which is kinda lame

Headfonia- their reviews aren't mentioned as much nowadays but a few years back they were linked in pretty much every head fi thread, nowadays the links are to Innerfidelity and the hobby is much better for it. I actually never minded the format and style of the headfonia reviews but as subjective as sound is, I just don't see how their reviews were accurate at all. It's the definition of take with a grain of salt.

Purrin- short and sweet, and has that joker ability to take a product for what it is and not be influenced by personal tastes. Measurements help a lot too and is good at identifying mod potential

Ultrabike- also mega short and sweet. His emoji game is strong. Extra brownie points for measurements and formatting the review in a simple short manner and to the point. For a lower level audiophile he's K

Anaxiilus- he seems more allergic to bass than the above two, but whenever he speaks about open and natural sounding gear I definitely take notice because I've never been let down by a recommendation from his regarding those things.

LFF- similar to Anax in that whenever he speaks on the tonal balance of something then it should not be taken with a grain of salt

Yeah it seems like professional audio gear seems the way to go to find such an amplifier. Lately I've been thinking of just buying one of the new Thunderbolt Focusrite interfaces once they become available. The higher end models have 2x independent volume controls and I'll have a box for experiments with RMAA / podcast recording etc. And I trust Focusrite more because they  publish so much about their models: http://us.focusrite.com/usb-audio-interfaces/forte/specifications

As you know, I ended up purchasing the Lynx HILO, whose output you can route however you want, more left, more right, but via a digital interface rather than analogue knobs and levers. It's expensive, but it's a great ADC/DAC and it's got one of the nicest (if not the most powerful) headphone amps out there. But Focusrite seem to be a good option, especially as thunderbolt interfaces become available. Note: no outboard ADC will be able to compare to a good one that plugs into PCI-e or whatever it is called.

The people that make the DR DAC3 make a phenomenal one actually measures nearly 20dB beyond the best outboard ADC available. It's not cheap, though, and you must use Windows.

What did people think of David Mahler's "Battle of the Flagships" write-up?

Love it. Obviously he doesn't need the money or gear. He seems to be sharing his honest opinions and I like it.

In his recent video appearances, Jude looks physically more frail(less body mass/muscle) than he was a few years ago?